Is This Billboard Anti-Christian ?

Whoa! This looks like a billboard designed to make some people mad. I'll bet many of you are thinking right now that this is another atheist attack on the poor victimized religion of christianity. It has to be a part of the anti-religious War on Christmas. Right?

If that's what you think, then you are dead wrong. The atheists have put up some billboards aimed at making contact with other non-religious people, but they are all much tamer than this one. This billboard is in Auckland, New Zealand, and it was put up by a christian church -- specifically the St. Matthew-in-the-City Church.

Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the billboard was to challenge the literal interpretation of christmas. He said, "What we're trying to do is to get people to think more about what christmas is all about. Is it about a spiritual male god sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?"

Cardy said the church had received about 20 responses and "About 50% said they loved it, and about 50% said it was terribly offensive." I'm surprised he got that high a percentage that weren't offended, but maybe New Zealand is a bit more tolerant than the United States.

But while New Zealand may have more tolerant people than the U.S., it seems the intolerant ones are just as stupid as the intolerant ones here in the States. The billboard had been up for only a few hours before it was defaced with brown paint.

Many religious people have already been told what they think by a preacher and they don't want to be confused with facts, and they especially don't want to have to actually think or make up their own mind. Thinking is too hard when you can just deface property or make death threats (as would no doubt have happened here in the U.S.).

I'll give the Archdeacon and his church an "A" for effort, but trying to make christians think is not a task I would want to try to do.

Virgin Mary Makes Another Appearance

"Lucha Libre wrestlers Renegado and Mr. Tempest look at an image of the Virgin Mary said to have appeared on a griddle at Las Palmas restaurant in Calexico. 'I follow Our Lady of Guadalupe,' Mr. Tempest said after the viewing. 'This is amazing. It’s a true miracle'."

Daniel Florien of Unreasonable Faith says it best, "There’s nothing like the absurdity of wrestlers worshipping a dirty cooking griddle."

Provacative Artwork Stolen In Dallas

It's not hard to upset close-minded people -- especially when those people are religious nuts. Any attempt to try and make them think about their beliefs will be met with outrage, and very possibly criminal actions. That's what has happened at the University of Dallas.

The University of Dallas was exhibiting the artwork of students from Murray State University in Kentucky. Murray State had previously exhibited the artwork of University of Dallas students. But one piece of art from Murray State created a furor on the Dallas campus.

Joanna Gianulis had done a print depicting the Virgin Mary as a stripper. She said she didn't mean to offend anyone and didn't even know the University was a Catholic school. She said she was trying to question perceptions of saints and sinners.

Gianulis said, "How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful? What if she has the best intentions and strives only to help those in need? Many single mothers are in this position and that is another reason why I chose to reference the Virgin Mary, because she was another woman who was in a tough position and probably received much criticism because of it."

I must applaud the faculty and administration on the Dallas campus for trying to maintain an atmosphere of academic freedom and allowing the exhibit to be displayed without censoring it.

But some of the students were much more close-minded. Instead of provoking thought, the work outraged them. And at least one student crossed the line into criminal behavior (and sin).

The exhibit began on February 8th, and it was discovered on February 14th that the print had been stolen. It has not been recovered. Once again, a religious nut has stepped forward to embarrass the state of Texas.

Ms. Gianulis did not have a picture of the print, but this is how she describes it:

"The work is a black and white woodcut relief print depicting a scantily clad stripper wearing a veil and holding a rosary. Other details in the work are scrolls saying 'Sinner or Saint?' in Spanish and referencing the Virgin [of] Guadalupe, and also a snake, some white lilies, a pair of scales, and also a small image of a bar of soap opposite a bottle marked 'xxx.' "